Nardini, Largs, Ayrshire

Probably one of the two finest ice-cream parlours in the British Isles. Completely rebuilt to the original plans from the 1930s, it has a restaurant, cafe and ice-cream parlour. Double cream vanilla is about the best you can buy, but they sell a complete range of ice-creams and sorbets as well as a vast range of sundaes, knickerbocker glories and plain scoops. The tour de force is the Clyde Coast Extravaganza – it'll set you back a whopping £ 14.95, but you probably won't want to eat for about three days afterwards. You can watch all the ices being made through a glass window at the side of the counter. • 2 Grennock Road (01475 675000, nardinis.co.uk) Robin Weir, co-author of Ice Creams, Sorbets and Gelati: the Definitive Guide (published by Grub Street, £25)

Bill Jackson's van/Minghella's ice-cream, Isle of Wight

Neatly suited, with a folded, gravy-brown tie, Bill Jackson has been serving Minghella's ice-cream cornets for the past 30 years from his 1960s ice-cream van at the top of Brading Down, which has panoramic views of the island .

When I was a cook I once catered a June wedding in the Isle of White and was impressed by the bride's low-key pudding request of lemon tarts and Minghella's strawberry ice-cream. Their ice-cream is wholesome and clean-tasting, and made using milk and cream from local farms. I sought it out again when they opened a fantastic parlour at Fortnum & Mason's in London. Here you can find flavours that use Fortnum's own produce for ingredients; like stem ginger and borage honey. Bill's van has the edge though on a warm day, with its view across the chalk grassland to the sea. •Minghella's (minghella.co.uk) is sold all over the island Kitty Travers. During the summer Kitty sells her La Grotta ice-creams at London's Maltby Street market. She has also created a range of ice-creams for Zizzi restaurants

Queens Cafe and The University Cafe, Glasgow

I was grateful to be tipped off about these Glasgow institutions during a research trip around remaining Italo-Scottish ice-cream parlours. Both dazzle with their retro furnishings and nostalgic menus. They are classic greasy spoons but they continue to make their own excellent versions of "white" ice-cream – the Scottish cousin to Italy's fior di latte, I'm guessing. Enjoy one perfect scoop on a pink melamine saucer. • Queens Cafe (515-517 Victoria Road, 0141-423 2409). The University Cafe (87 Byres Road, Hillhead, 0141-339 5217) Kitty Travers

Towpath Cafe, Regent's Canal, London

Photograph: Jason Lowe

This is the kind of cafe you might count yourself lucky to come across on holiday – except it's in Dalston, east London. Original, charming and serving delicious plates of hot food all day long, it has got even better thanks to the recent acquisition of a brand new Electro Freeze soft serve machine. Their inspired chef Laura Jackson now makes daily batches of lemon- and orange-peel-flavoured Mister Whippy-style ice-cream. All are made from natural ingredients and modestly priced, too (£1.50 for a small cone) You can also buy one in a glass with a shot of espresso poured over the top. Last time I was there I had three. •Between Whitmore Bridge and Kingsland Road Bridge (no phone) Kitty Travers

Tall Ships Creamery, Charlestown, Cornwall

I was not good at hiding my disappointment after eating too many slimy, gungey and over-sweet ice-creams over a recent weekend in Cornwall. Then we discovered that the quaint and rather odd sweet shop in the middle of the harbour in the seaside village where we were camping actually stocked the real deal – bright-tasting, homemade jersey ice-creams, obviously made with love and skill. Ices are made in small batches just a mile away, and sold uniquely here. You can find a delicious, natural soft-serve from rich creamy milk. A cup of this alongside their dewdrop-fresh strawberry sorbet, after a day on the beach under a Cornish blue sky, equals complete happiness. • 01726 65444 Kitty Travers

Pelosi's, Ramsgate

While the admittedly wonderful Morelli's in Broadstairs basks in the limelight, Pelosi's hovers in the background like a shy little sister. But don't overlook its less brash charms: Pelosi's is, in its understated way, a stunner: green vitrolite walls with curved mirrors, Germolene-pink chairs and ice-cream a go-go. For me, the quality of that ice-cream can outshine its flashier Broadstairs neighbour. It's somehow lighter, with brighter flavours: the pink grapefruit could wake up the doziest palate. And there's exotica like pomegranate or pistachio – a duo designed to match the pastel colour scheme. "Established 1945" it says on the sign. Long may they continue. •76 Harbour Parade, Ramsgate (01843 593 585) Marina O'Loughlin (this review appears in Discover Thanet guide book, discoverthanet.co.uk)

Taywell farm shop, Goudhurst, Kent

As a family, we love visiting and gorging ourselves on the delicious ice-creams at this shop, housed in a rustic building in an area of outstanding natural beauty. The ice-creams are textured and wholesome, using local fruits from founder Alastair's acres of raspberries, blueberries and cherries, as well as Belgian chocolate and other good-quality ingredients. I have a particular penchant for the "naughty" ones – pecan and maple syrup, plum crumble and rocky road, that sort of thing – whereas my wife usually goes for something healthier like the sea buckthorn and pear juice cocktail (the sea buckthorn is one of the UK's greatest superfruits – each tiny berry has the same vitamin C content as eight oranges). The shop also stocks some great local produce – there are always nice cheeses and jams, as well as a few interesting bottles of wine. • Cranbrook Road, Goudhurst (01580 211881, taywellfarmshop.co.uk). Taywell ice-creams are on sale at Mount Street Deli, Mayfair, LondonTim Hughes, group chef director, Caprice Holdings

Heavenly, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire

Heavenly was opened by Paul and Tracey Kindred back in 2005 in this pretty Carmarthenshire market town. Come summer the queues can be seen down the high street as visitors flock to sample the ice-cream which is made from Welsh organic milk. Personally I like to stick with the old favourites but Heavenly has developed a reputation for wild and wonderful flavours such as bubble gum, pink grapefruit, Turkish delight, simnel cake (an Easter special) and peanut butter. They also sell equally tempting confectionery, chocolates and desserts. If you have some strange whim for a particular flavour they'll conjure something up in their ice-cream lab at the rear of the shop, given 48 hours' notice – the more absurd the request the better they like it. Somewhat bizarrely, they even cater for the dogs – their latest creation is made from a soya base and designed to keep even the hairiest pooch cool this summer. • London House, Rhosmaen Street (01558 822800, heavenlychoc.co.uk)Simon Wright, partner of Y Polyn restaurant, Carmarthenshire

Henley Ice Cream, Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire

The much-loved half-timbered ice-cream shop on Henley-in-Arden's architecturally rich high street refrains from parading its heritage credentials. Mercifully there is no plaque claiming that "Shakespeare Ate Ice Cream Here". The grannies with their pre-school charges, the children in school uniform and even the droves of summer tourists at the outside tables come not because of the 16th-century low-beamed ceiling or the long and colourful history of the dairy on this site. They come, summer and winter, for an old-fashioned smooth- textured treat. Henley ice-cream used to be made behind the shop but now it is made on farms in Staffordshire and Worcestershire. All the traditional flavours feature (vanilla, rum and raisin, and mint choc chip) among the 20 or more on offer, with a few experimental ones such as kirsch cherry or lime and ginger. No better testimonial to the superiority of the ice-cream is needed than the hand-written letters displayed on the wall from a class of junior school children from Birmingham. Hassan Iqbal enthuses: "Dear all the ladies of the Ice Cream Shop, It was delicious, lovely and tastey, It was biggiest ice cream I ever had". • 152 High Street (01564 795172, henleyicecream.co.uk)Simon Heptinstall, author of Taste Britain (Punk Publishing, £19.95)

Alder Carr Farm Shop, Needham Market, Suffolk

The onsite Alder Tree dairy on the Hardingham family's farm makes outstanding ice-cream. The list of contents is a joy to read: fruit (comprising at least a third and mostly grown on the farm), cream and sugar (but not too much). Irresistible flavour combinations such as rhubarb with stem ginger and gooseberry with elderflower have been praised variously by Nigel Slater and Nigella Lawson. The label "prize-winning" can be used indiscriminately, but the Alder Tree gooseberry and elderflower ice-cream is truly deserving – last year it earned a rare three stars at the Guild of Fine Foods Great Taste Awards, the food industry's Oscars. Buy a small tub in the shop to enjoy in the courtyard. • Creeting St Mary, Needham Market, Ipswich (01449 720820, aldercarrfarm.co.uk)Simon Heptinstall

• This article was amended on 29 April 2011. A subheading in the original referred to the Isle of White. This has been corrected.